Experience ManagerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2026-48254

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2020.5.0 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 5 weeks old

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Adobe Experience Manager is affected by a DOM-based Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability. An attacker could exploit this issue by manipulating the DOM environment to execute malicious JavaScript within the context of the victim's browser. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must visit a crafted webpage. Scope is changed.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

A DOM-based Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Adobe Experience Manager allows attackers to inject malicious JavaScript through manipulation of the DOM environment. The attack requires user interaction where a victim must visit a crafted webpage. The scope change indicates the vulnerability impacts components beyond the originally vulnerable one.

MitigationImplement output encoding and input validation for DOM operations in AEM components, and deploy a Content Security Policy (CSP) header to mitigate script execution.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Experience ManagerApplication
Affected:<= 6.5.25.0<= 2020.5.0= 6.5

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Adobe Experience Manager is running
    Identify AEM instances by checking typical endpoints such as /libs/granite/core/content/login.html, /crx/packmgr, or /system/console, or by scanning for AEM-specific HTTP response headers and cookies (like granite.csrf.token)
    Affected if AEM is accessible via HTTP/HTTPS and responds with AEM-specific pages or headers
  2. Determine installed AEM version
    Access the AEM about page at /libs/granite/core/content/login.html or /aem/start.html, or query the version via the Felix console at /system/console/bundles, or inspect the aem-core-wcm-services JAR file name in the installation directory
    Affected if The displayed version matches <= 6.5.25.0, <= 2020.5.0, or exactly equals 6.5 (note: 2020.5.0 corresponds to AEM as a Cloud Service)
  3. Check if user-facing content pages are exposed
    Navigate to typical publish or author instance content paths such as /content/, /home.html, or any publicly accessible site pages rendered by AEM
    Affected if Content pages are accessible and render HTML content from AEM components, indicating DOM manipulation vectors exist

You are affected if an AEM instance is running a version <= 6.5.25.0, <= 2020.5.0, or exactly 6.5, and publicly accessible pages render content that could be manipulated through DOM operations.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 2020.5.0
Interim mitigation

Implement output encoding and input validation for DOM operations in AEM components, and deploy a Content Security Policy (CSP) header to mitigate script execution.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

AEM 6.5.26.0 or later; AEM Cloud Service 2020.6.0 or later

  1. 1. Identify the current Adobe Experience Manager version in your environment
  2. 2. For AEM 6.5 on-premises: Upgrade to version 6.5.26.0 or later (the first version after the affected 6.5.25.0)
  3. 3. For AEM as a Cloud Service: Upgrade to version 2020.6.0 or later (the first version after the affected 2020.5.0)
  4. 4. After upgrading, verify the DOM-based XSS vulnerability is resolved by reviewing Adobe security bulletin APSB26-18 or subsequent relevant bulletins
  5. 5. Test the upgrade in a staging environment before deploying to production
  6. 6. Clear AEM caches and rebuild any custom code that interacts with the DOM
Caveat Review Adobe's release notes for 6.5.26.0 for any compatibility or deprecation notices that may affect custom components or integrations

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Experience Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-48254 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-48254 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data